Woodland Calamint

Here, two or three years ago a stand of hornbeams was cut down. The bracken ferns are still there, but in place of the trees a perfumed tapestry of purple flowers has developed.

The Woodland Calamint (Calamintha menthifolia) likes to grow on the verge of a wood where it finds a bit more sunlight as under the trees. It has a good smell, a bit like mint.

The leaves are also a bit like those of some mint species. Here, a young bug tries to hide itself under one of them.

Autumn is warm and sunny this year and the Woodland calamint does not yet stop making new flowers.

Bastard Toadflax

A very small plant is hidden in short dry grass. Bastard toadflax (Thesium humifusum) is only a few centimeters high and nearly invisible except for some miniature flowers like tiny white stars.

If you really search for it between the tangle of grass and mosses you'll find a pivotal root from which radiate several flowering stems. The yellow-green leaves and stems are a bit rounded, like those of a succulent plant (but probably you need a magnifying glass to see this).